Love Lessons: Mistletoe and Momentous Moments
by Alexannah
Summary: Adrien wants to get his father and Nathalie under the mistletoe this Christmas, and has enlisted his friends to help. But the best laid plans …
1. Chapter 1: Misunderstandings

**Canon/Spoilers:** Set some time post-season two, with major spoilers. Does not take season three into account and contains no spoilers for it.

**Ships:** Gabriel/Nathalie, Adrien/Marinette

**Author's Notes:** This is technically a sequel to my one-shot _Poorliness and Proper Parenting_, though it could be read separately. There may be a third in the series, but I only have a vague idea at the moment, so we'll see.  
Given the canonical circumstances, it was impossible to make this an entirely fluffy piece, so there's a fair bit of angst in the middle. However it's probably as fluffy as I could have ever hoped to get this circumstance, and if it feels a little OOC as a result, well, never mind …  
I don't know how many chapters this will end up being. I'm breaking my only-start-posting-when-finished rule so it's seasonal, but it's not a long fic and I have a thorough plan with a lot of the dialogue already written, so am hoping to complete it within a reasonable amount of time.

* * *

**Love Lessons: Mistletoe and Momentous Moments**

By Alexannah

**Chapter One: Misunderstandings**

"Any idea what this means?" Marinette said, showing the text to Alya.

"_Need you,_" Alya read out loud, her eyes widening. "_Library corner table in 5._ Er, who's that from?"

"Adrien!"

"_What?_ Seriously?"

Marinette nodded eagerly. "Do you think he's …"

"I dunno, girl … sounds a bit abrupt for asking someone out. Not really Adrien's style." Alya's own phone beeped, and she looked down at it. "Oh. Well, that settles it. He's not asking you out."

"How do you know?"

"I just got the exact same one."

"Oh," Marinette said, her heart sinking. "Well … that's a bit of a relief, actually," she said bravely. "As much as I like the idea of him saying he _needs_ me … I'd rather it was done in a bit more of a romantic way."

"That's the spirit. Come on, let's go and see what he wants."

They found Adrien already at the table, looking thoughtful. Nino joined him moments before the girls reached him.

"'Sup, dude?"

"I'll explain when—" Adrien broke off as he saw Marinette and Alya approaching. "Oh good, you're here."

"Yes, we are. So what's up, man of mystery?" Alya asked, sitting down. After a moment she nudged Marinette sharply with her elbow to remind her to sit down as well.

"Well," Adrien began, smiling at all of them, "you guys are my closest friends, and there's this … project I need some help on."

"What kind of project?" Nino asked, sounding surprised. "It's the last day of term!"

"Not that kind of project."

"Sounds intriguing," Alya said, grinning and leaning her elbows on the table. "What is it?"

"It's … well, kind of a romantic thing," Adrien said.

Marinette squeaked a little, and they all looked at her. She felt herself blushing red. "R-romantic?"

She wasn't sure if she could suffer through Adrien asking for advice about Kagami again. The first time had been disastrous enough. And that had been in private. Not with Nino and Alya right there, both of whom knew full well how _she_ felt about the whole situation. Even her sweet oblivious Adrien might cotton on if he saw them give her too many sympathetic looks.

"Yeah. And that's really not my area of expertise. But you two have been together for months," Adrien said to Nino and Alya, "and you're really creative," he directed at Marinette. "So I'm hoping you can give me some pointers."

"Er …" Marinette could sense the tension his words had created, even if he couldn't, as Nino and Alya glanced at each other. "Who's the lucky lady?" Nino said, apparently trying for a casual tone but it came out quite weird. Both he and Alya were determinedly not looking at Marinette, which was quite a relief.

"Nathalie."

Marinette blinked, and her friends looked quite startled as well.

_I know that name. Where have I heard it before? I can't think of anyone in school with_—

"Wait, _your dad's assistant_ Nathalie?" Nino exclaimed, and with shock Marinette remembered why it was familiar.

Adrien frowned. "Yeah."

"Dude, that's seriously disturbing. Isn't she like … _forty?_"

"Um, Nino," Alya said suddenly, "I don't think that's what he—"

"Thirty-nine," Adrien corrected. "It's only six years, and they're both adults. How is that disturbing?"

Once his words had sunk in, Marinette almost fainted in relief.

"Er … what, now?" Nino asked.

"You're talking about _your father_ and Nathalie?" Alya queried. Nino groaned and facepalmed.

"Of course I was. Who did you think I was talking about?"

"Don't ask," Nino mumbled, blushing hard. "Forget I said—"

"Wait, you thought _I_—ew, _Nino!_" Adrien shuddered. "You've got a sick mind!"

"It wasn't really _his_ fault," Marinette found the courage to say. "When you said you wanted help with a _romantic project_, I think we all took that to mean planning a date."

Adrien blinked. "Oh."

"So … what about your dad and his assistant?"

"Right," he said, clearing his throat awkwardly. "So, in a nutshell, I'm planning to set them up together."

"Aww," Alya said. "That's really sweet."

"Thanks. But … I'm in desperate need of some ideas. So far all I've got is somehow getting them under the mistletoe at Christmas. But _how_ to do that is something I've been having some trouble figuring out."

"You mean beyond putting mistletoe up in all the doorways?" Nino said, finally looking up again. "They're bound to get caught together under it sooner or later if you do that."

"I think that would be kind of obvious," Adrien said. "If Father cottons on to what I'm doing, he'll go out of his way to make sure I don't succeed, starting with making me take all the mistletoe down and banning it in the house ever again."

"So … he _won't_ want to be set up with Nathalie?" Marinette said slowly.

"My father isn't exactly very open emotionally. And he's _really_ stubborn. I don't think it could ever happen without a bit of a push, and if he knows in advance the push is happening, he'll dodge it, no matter how much he might want what it's pushing him towards. If that makes sense."

"I think I followed that," Nino said slowly.

"The idea is to play Cupid without either of them realising it until it's too late. So whatever I do, it's got to be subtle."

Alya looked thoughtful. "Why exactly are you trying to set them up? I mean, do you just think they'll be good together, or do you think they actually have feelings for each other? Because the latter would definitely be helpful."

"I don't know if I could say they're 'in love'—yet," Adrien said slowly, "but there's definitely _something_ between them."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. I mean, they've been good friends for years anyway, but the last few months … they've got so much closer, I can see it."

"They might just be closer friends than before," Nino pointed out.

"You wouldn't say that if you knew my father as well as I do. I can count on one hand the number of people he has ever let talk back to him without getting a very nasty response. Nathalie could always get away with more than most people—including me—but even she had a limit. But you remember when I was off sick a few weeks ago?"

They all nodded.

"Well, since my mom's been gone, I've pretty much been on my own whenever I was ill. But last time, Nathalie stayed with me for the first few hours, and then somehow managed to talk my father into taking the rest of the day off work and spending time with me himself. And a few days afterwards, I heard them make an agreement that when it came to what was best for me, he basically gave her permission to talk sense into him whenever he was wrong."

"Really?"

"Yeah. And things between us have been so much better since then. He's been making a special effort to join me for meals. We've actually gone out together several times, which he'd only done a couple of times in almost a year before that. And whenever he has to cancel doing something with me now, he always makes it up to me later. I know it doesn't sound like much, but—"

"Having met your dad, I'd say it sounds like a huge deal," Nino said.

Adrien grinned. "It is. Um, but I've got off track a bit."

"Yeah. It sounds great for you, but I'm not sure I'm seeing why it means he likes her in that way," Alya said.

"That's just one example. Father really isn't a physical person. I swear my mom and I are the only people I've ever seen let him touch him outside of polite handshakes (and he doesn't shake hands very often either). Until recently."

"You've seen them hugging or something?" Nino asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing _that_ dramatic. It's just like little touches on the arm and stuff. If it were anyone else I wouldn't think twice about it. But it is just so _not_ like Father. And there's something different in the way he looks at her too. Especially when he's smiling. That's something else he rarely does. I'm telling you, it means something."

"Okay, you know them best," Nino said. "We'll take your word for it."

"And we're in," Alya said. "Right, Marinette?"

"Yes, of course!"

"Great. Thanks, guys. So … any suggestions?"

There was a pause while they all thought.

Marinette tried to put herself in the potential couple's shoes. She didn't know them anywhere near as well as Adrien did, obviously, but she had met both of them more than once. They were both closed books, really. One cold and distant, the other cool and professional. Clearly they were less so around Adrien at least sometimes, but all the same, she could imagine people like that finding being put in an unexpectedly romantic situation quite awkward, especially if there were others around. And since it would mostly likely just be Adrien, and possibly his bodyguard …

"Are you having any other family over for Christmas?" she blurted, and they all looked around at her.

"No," Adrien said. "My father doesn't have any other relatives, and my mom's family always have other plans at Christmas. Why?"

"Well, I was just thinking … your dad and Nathalie might find it a bit awkward if you succeeded in getting them under the mistletoe, and you were actually there. But if there were more people in the house, and you appeared to be distracted, there would be less pressure on them, so they might feel more able to let their guards down and it would be more likely to turn into something. But if it's just going to be you and maybe your bodyguard … I know if it were me I'd find it pretty embarrassing, and I'm not emotionally repressed like your dad."

"You have a point," Adrien said slowly. "Shame it's not like last Christmas, when there was like thirty of us."

"Preferably without the part where you ran off and scared the heck out of all of us," Alya muttered.

Adrien flushed slightly. "Er, yeah, well … it's just the four of us, so …"

"You could invite us," Alya said suddenly.

"What?"

"Think about it. If you've got friends over, and we all pretend to be completely oblivious of whatever is going on between them, that solves the problem."

"Yeah, but his dad is never going to agree to that," Nino pointed out.

"He might," Marinette said slowly. "If things have really improved between you that much, Adrien."

"And if you ask in front of Nathalie, she might convince him to allow it," Alya said.

Adrien slowly beamed. "That might work. Thanks, Alya."

"So now we just need Mr Agreste's permission, and a really good plan."

They were in the midst of concocting one when the bell rang, and the four of them scrambled to get to their next class.

"You know, Marinette," Alya said in her friend's ear on the way, "maybe we can even get you and Adrien under the mistletoe as well."

Marinette felt her face heat up. "Don't you dare!" she hissed.

"Why not?"

"Didn't you hear what I said earlier about _finding it really embarrassing?_"

"Don't fret; I'll make sure no-one is watching."

"_Alya!_"

* * *

"How was your day?" Gabriel asked as he picked up his soup spoon.

Adrien hid the threatening grin as he gleefully recalled the plot he and his friends were cooking up. "It was fun. The teachers are all pretty relaxed on the last day of term, so for most classes we end up doing some kind of game which is vaguely related to the subject; like in Science, we had a Christmas tree-shaped buzzer game."

"Er … pardon?"

"Where you move a wire wand around a wire frame without touching the wires, or you set the buzzer off."

"Oh, one of them. I think we used to have one when you were little. Who won?"

"Marinette. She has very steady hands. Only got buzzed once, and that was when she saw me watching her; I think I put her off." Adrien paused. "Um, talking of my friends … I was wondering if I could invite a few of them over during the holiday? Not necessarily _on_ Christmas, but sometime around it. It was so awesome having them join us last year. I'm not asking for the whole class and all their parents," he added quickly. "Just a few people."

Adrien didn't miss Gabriel's hesitation, or his glance at Nathalie. Nor did he miss her tiny encouraging nod.

_Thanks, Alya. Well played._

"Very well. As long as it's _only_ a few. And their parents agree."

Adrien grinned. Operation: Mistletoe was officially on. "Thanks, Father!"

**To Be Continued …**


	2. Chapter 2: Preparations

**Chapter Two: Preparations**

"Mr Agreste, please stop fussing. It's only a cold."

"I can't help it," he admitted, handing Nathalie a new box of tissues.

"You know perfectly well I've been fully recovered from using the peacock Miraculous for _months_." And he had hidden it to stop her using it again, after she'd collapsed while trying two weeks after Heroes' Day. "You've got to stop having a panic attack whenever I get a sniffle."

"I do not have a panic attack," Gabriel insisted.

"You definitely do. Even Adrien's noticed."

"I know." He paused while his assistant blew her nose. "It's today that Adrien's friends are coming over, isn't it?"

"You know perfectly well it is. You're only asking for the purpose of having an excuse for staying in this room a few moments longer," Nathalie teased.

"If you want me to leave, I'll leave."

Whilst she couldn't say that having Gabriel Agreste see her while she was sporting a red runny nose, tangled hair, crumpled pyjamas and dark shadows under the eyes from not having slept, and smelling of vapour rub, was appealing, she privately rather enjoyed the attention. He could be surprisingly sweet when he was worried about her. Though enjoying it made her feel a little guilty.

Before Nathalie could figure out how to respond, there was a knock on her bedroom door.

"Come in," she called, grateful for the interruption.

Adrien pushed the ajar door fully open. "Oh, wow. I was going to ask if you were feeling any better this morning Nathalie, but … you look terrible."

"Thank you, Adrien," she said drily.

"Sorry, I didn't mean like that! Just …" He hesitated awkwardly. "Well, my friends are coming over today, and I was kind of hoping you'd be well … I mean, I was hoping you were feeling better anyway, but—"

"It's alright, I understand," Nathalie said, smiling at him. "And you don't need to cancel on my account; it's a big enough house I can avoid contaminating them all."

"Oh," he said, sounding disappointed anyway.

"Have a good time with your friends; don't worry about me." Nathalie glanced at Gabriel, who had remained quiet during that exchange. "And I am perfectly capable of looking after myself, so your father has no excuse for not spending time with you."

Gabriel frowned at her, and she gave him a fierce look back. At least she hoped it was fierce. The red nose probably lessened the effect.

"Do you feel up to joining us?" Adrien asked hopefully.

"I—I could, and I would love to, but I really don't want to give everyone this cold over Christmas—"

"I already checked with my friends and they're happy to see you anyway," he said quickly.

Nathalie blinked in surprise. "They are?"

"Yep. So … will you come down?"

"Oh, all right. If they're happy to be around someone contagious."

"Great! Thanks, Nathalie!" Adrien gave her a quick hug, startling her a little. "I know they'll all like you."

Nathalie was warmed by his compliment and wasn't sure how to respond except hug him back, whilst trying not to breathe germs all over him. "Thank you, Adrien."

The moment was broken by Gabriel's phone ringing. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the screen. "I have to take this."

"Father, you promised you'd spend time with us today!" Adrien protested, sounding quite alarmed.

"And I will. I have some calls to take today, but not very many, and none should take very long. I promise I'll make plenty of time to spend with you and your friends, Adrien."

"Okay," he said, sounding relieved. "Thanks, Father."

Gabriel exited the room, leaving the two of them alone. Adrien quickly sent a text to his friends, then sat on Nathalie's bed next to her and leaned his head on her shoulder.

It was a wonderful feeling to see how comfortable he felt doing that kind of thing nowadays. Gabriel wasn't the touchy-feely sort, and Nathalie had always endeavoured to stay professional, so since Emilie had died, poor Adrien had been rather starved for physical affection. But things were changing in the household, and definitely for the better. It was amazing what one delirium-induced word could spark.

"Looking forward to today?" Nathalie asked, putting her arm around Adrien.

He snuggled closer a little. "Very much. And they're all looking forward to it as well."

"I'm glad to hear that."

"I know Father will like them if he just gets to know them. And he promised he would." Adrien gave a very happy smile. "Thanks, Nathalie."

"I didn't do anything."

"Yes, you did. You can't hide anything from me."

_I wouldn't bet on that if I were you,_ Nathalie thought. But she could hardly say it out loud. That might lead to some awkward questions. She highly doubted Adrien would work out just from that comment that his father was a supervillain, but all the same …

"You know you're family too." To her surprise, he kissed her on the forehead. "Father and I would be lost without you."

For a very long moment, Nathalie was speechless.

"Thank you," she finally managed, then added teasingly, "Mom."

"I'm never going to hear the end of that, am I?"

"Nope."

"I was delirious! … The first time."

Nathalie placed one of her hands on his. "Seriously, though, Adrien … thank you. That's very sweet of you."

"It's totally true. I love you." It wasn't the first time Adrien had said those words, but they still gave her the same warm fuzzies they had done when she had realised he had _not_ thought she was Emilie when he had first uttered them. "And I know Father does too."

Nathalie believed that, but it still caused her an ache to know it wasn't in the same ways she loved him. But there was no need for Adrien to know that either. So she just smiled, cuddled him closer and said the words back to him.

* * *

Before his friends were due to arrive, Adrien went over the plan in his head again.

It had turned out quite complicated. There were four steps to it, each requiring quite a lot of preparation in advance, and all very carefully designed to point Gabriel and Nathalie at each other without tipping them off.

Marinette's creativity really knew no bounds. She and Adrien had spent hours figuring out all the details, with input from their coupled-up friends, but largely it had been the two of them that had put it all together.

It had to be a success. Even though Nathalie was ill, Adrien was sure they could still pull it off.

Everything he had said to Nathalie that morning, though perfectly true and sincere, had been an extra little step he had come up with himself. Considering she probably felt like crap, it would definitely help to put her in a good mood. And a sentimental mood. Not to mention working in the mention that Gabriel cared for her. She obviously hadn't taken it that way, but that was okay. He hadn't meant her to. That would have been very _not_ subtle.

Nathalie was resting in preparation for the social gathering later, and Gabriel was back to fussing over her despite her protest he didn't need to ("_Excellent_," Adrien had said gleefully to Plagg), so Adrien was free to check on Step Four. Obviously the mistletoe would be being put up at the last possible minute, to prevent Gabriel or Nathalie from seeing it, but the rest of the game had been set up.

"I think we're good to go, Plagg."

"Great. Now maybe I can hear about something else for a while," his Kwami grumbled.

"You know, I don't buy your indifference. I reckon you want this as much as I do."

"Meh." Plagg shrugged. "Well … I admit your dad has been a bit more tolerable recently. So Nathalie's very good for him. Stop grinning! I'm not into the lovey-dovey stuff! I'm just happy for your sake."

"Uh-huh. You're not a romantic at heart, then."

"Nope!"

"So you're telling me I _haven't_ heard you mutter the name of Ladybug's Kwami in your sleep about a million times by now," Adrien said, grinning.

"_What?_" Plagg gasped. "Uh-uh, no way! You must have misheard me saying … camembert!"

Adrien snorted with laughter. "Yeah, 'Tikki' and 'camembert' are _such_ similar words. I don't know how I missed that."

"Mention her name one more time and I'm moving back to the Miracle Box!"

"Okay, I promise."

"Thank you."

"I'll just call her 'sugar cube' instead," Adrien said.

"_Hey!_"

"What? You tease me about Ladybug so much, I should be allowed to return the favour!"

* * *

"Wish them all a happy Christmas from us," Sabine said as Marinette, Alya and Nino all got out of the car.

"I will. Thanks, Mom."

"Have a good time, sweetie."

Marinette paused at the intercom as her mother drove away. "I'm so nervous."

"Relax, girl. It's all going to be fine. Your ideas are amazing and we've planned it _really_ thoroughly."

"That's not what I'm nervous about," she replied, shooting Alya a fierce glare. "Promise me you haven't got something planned for me and Adrien?"

"I swear I have not got something planned for you and Adrien," Alya said solemnly.

Nino raised his eyebrows at her behind Marinette's back. Alya leaned in and whispered in his ear, "I'm going to improvise."

"Just don't drag _me_ into it," he muttered back. "Marinette can be scary when she's mad."

"What kind of superhero are you?"

"One who's wise enough to pick their battles and not poke hornet nests."

Alya rolled her eyes. "Marinette," she said in a normal tone, "are you going to ring or what? We're getting frostbite here."

"Okay, okay!" Marinette pressed the button.

The camera came out of the wall. "Hey, guys!" Adrien's voice came over the speaker, sounding excited.

Marinette squeaked a bit in surprise. "A-Adrien! Hi!"

"Come in!" The gates started to open.

By the time they got to the front door, Adrien had already opened it. "It's great to see you!"

"You too. Merry Christmas, dude."

He closed the door as they exchanged greetings, and took their coats. "Father's just gone upstairs to get Nathalie; they'll be down any minute." In a hushed voice he added, "Everything's good to go."

"Great," Alya said. "We've got the rest."

"Let's set it out now, while they're out of the way."

Adrien led them through into the living room, which looked more homely than the rest of the house, hung with tinsel and lights, and with a large Christmas tree by the grand fireplace. Unlike the tree last year, it was decorated with a large number of decorations that had been clearly made by Adrien when he was much younger.

Alya quickly placed the gifts under the tree, while Marinette and Adrien hid the other assorted boxes to be taken out at the right moment, and Nino stood watch at the door.

"Done," Adrien said happily.

"All done here," Alya added.

"Dudes," Nino remarked, "come and see this!"

They gathered at the doorway, which had a perfect view of the nearest staircase.

Gabriel Agreste was coming down, carrying his assistant in his arms, bridal style. Nathalie, who was wrapped in a dressing-gown and clutching a box of tissues, looked bemused but also like she was enjoying it.

Alya felt her mouth fall open, and saw Marinette's and Nino's do the same.

"Told you," Adrien murmured to his friends.

"That's a bit more than a light touch on the arm, dude."

"Yeah, well, Nathalie told me she had a bit of a health scare a few months ago. Father's been absolutely paranoid about her health since. She just has to cough once, and he's pushing her into a chair and taking her temperature."

"Aww," Marinette said.

"I'm definitely seeing the romantic potential now," Alya remarked. "But, what about the plan? If she's that ill …"

"I don't see why it can't still work," Adrien said. "It'll probably be _more_ effective, actually, since Father's in his protective mode."

"Isn't he a bit of a germophobe?" Nino asked.

"Normally, yeah. But you saw _that_, right? He clearly isn't bothered where Nathalie is concerned."

**To Be Continued …**


End file.
